Matze confirmed the move to Reuters, after it was originally
reported by Fox News, and said that he had not been given a settlement.
"On January 29, 2021, the Parler board controlled by
Rebekah Mercer decided to immediately terminate my position as CEO of Parler. I
did not participate in this decision," Matze said in a memo sent to Parler
staff.
"Over the past few months, I've met constant resistance
to my product vision, my strong belief in free speech and my view of how the
Parler site should be managed."
He told Reuters that Parler now has an "executive
committee" consisting of Matthew Richardson and Mark Meckler.
Mercer, Richardson, Meckler and Parler did not immediately
respond to requests for comment.
Parler remains largely offline after being dropped by
Seattle-based Amazon's cloud-hosting division and the app stores of Apple Inc
and Alphabet Inc's Google following the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol.
The companies cited Parler's record of policing violent
content, after far-right groups spread violent rhetoric on the platform ahead
of the unrest in Washington.
Parler, which was founded in 2018 and has claimed it has
over 12 million users, has styled itself as a "free speech-driven"
space.
The app has largely attracted U.S. conservatives who
disagree with rules around content on social media sites like Facebook Inc and
Twitter Inc.
Matze told Reuters on Jan. 13 that Parler may be offline for
good, but later pledged it would return stronger.
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